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Balsa: Learning a Query Optimizer Without Expert Demonstrations

Summary: Balsa uses deep RL to learn a query optimizer without expert demonstrations, from a simple simulator to safe real-execution fine-tuning. On Join Order Benchmark, it matches two expert optimizers after ~2 hours and beats them up to 2.8x with training. (summarized by gpt-5-nano on Feb 09 2026)

Paper ID
hc15b634968a29395
Venue
SIGMOD
Year
2022
Pagerank
0.00011574218
Overall Rank
1,195 | 91.97%
DOI
10.1145/3514221.3517885

Incoming Non-self Citations Over Time

Authors

BibTeX Citation

@inproceedings{yang_sigmod22,
        title = {{Balsa: Learning a Query Optimizer Without Expert Demonstrations}},
        author = {Yang, Zongheng and Chiang, Wei-Lin and Luan, Sifei and Mittal, Gautam and Luo, Michael and Stoica, Ion},
        series = {{SIGMOD} '22},
        booktitle = {Proceedings of the {ACM} {SIGMOD} International Conference on Management of Data},
        publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery},
        doi = {10.1145/3514221.3517885},
        url = {https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3514221.3517885},
        year = {2022}
}

Incoming Citations (Sorted by Pagerank)

Showing 50 of 59 citing papers.

Rank Citing Paper Year Venue Pagerank
2,209 Lero: A Learning-to-Rank Query Optimizer 2023 VLDB 8.8360101e-05
3,479 LOGER: A Learned Optimizer towards Generating Efficient and Robust Query Execution Plans 2023 VLDB 7.2665349e-05
3,565 Auto-WLM: Machine Learning Enhanced Workload Management in Amazon Redshift 2023 SIGMOD 7.200937e-05
4,191 Kepler: Robust Learning for Faster Parametric Query Optimization 2023 SIGMOD 6.7425275e-05
4,240 LEON: A New Framework for ML-Aided Query Optimization 2023 VLDB 6.7064546e-05
4,677 AutoSteer: Learned Query Optimization for Any SQL Database 2023 VLDB 6.4721041e-05
5,216 Stage: Query Execution Time Prediction in Amazon Redshift 2024 SIGMOD 6.2218868e-05
5,236 FASTgres: Making Learned Query Optimizer Hinting Effective 2023 VLDB 6.2153504e-05
5,316 How Good are Learned Cost Models, Really? Insights from Query Optimization Tasks 2025 SIGMOD 6.1827415e-05
5,438 Eraser: Eliminating Performance Regression on Learned Query Optimizer 2024 VLDB 6.1278045e-05
5,630 Sample-Efficient Cardinality Estimation Using Geometric Deep Learning 2024 VLDB 6.056758e-05
5,700 PilotScope: Steering Databases with Machine Learning Drivers 2024 VLDB 6.028998e-05
5,776 Lemo: A Cache-Enhanced Learned Optimizer for Concurrent Queries 2023 SIGMOD 5.9957692e-05
6,298 Is Your Learned Query Optimizer Behaving As You Expect? A Machine Learning Perspective 2024 VLDB 5.8177684e-05
6,575 Can Large Language Models Be Query Optimizer for Relational Databases? 2026 SIGMOD 5.7428777e-05
6,636 Join Order Selection with Deep Reinforcement Learning: Fundamentals, Techniques, and Challenges 2023 VLDB 5.7243042e-05
6,664 Speeding Up End-to-end Query Execution via Learning-based Progressive Cardinality Estimation 2023 SIGMOD 5.715134e-05
6,714 Simple Adaptive Query Processing vs. Learned Query Optimizers: Observations and Analysis 2023 VLDB 5.6993812e-05
7,021 Rethinking Learned Cost Models: Why Start from Scratch? 2023 SIGMOD 5.6168049e-05
7,072 E2ETune: End-to-End Knob Tuning via Fine-tuned Generative Language Model 2025 VLDB 5.6053987e-05
7,464 T3: Accurate and Fast Performance Prediction for Relational Database Systems With Compiled Decision Trees 2025 SIGMOD 5.5189616e-05
7,546 Learned Offline Query Planning via Bayesian Optimization 2025 SIGMOD 5.4966669e-05
7,929 SlabCity: Whole-Query Optimization using Program Synthesis 2023 VLDB 5.4231855e-05
7,981 The Holon Approach for Simultaneously Tuning Multiple Components in a Self-Driving Database Management System with Machine Learning via Synthesized Proto-Actions 2024 VLDB 5.4117272e-05
8,373 GenJoin: Conditional Generative Plan-to-Plan Query Optimizer that Learns from Subplan Hints 2026 SIGMOD 5.3427119e-05
8,638 LIMAO: A Framework for Lifelong Modular Learned Query Optimization 2025 VLDB 5.2965922e-05
8,969 Conformal Prediction for Verifiable Learned Query Optimization 2025 VLDB 5.2477982e-05
9,134 Hit the Gym: Accelerating Query Execution to Efficiently Bootstrap Behavior Models for Self-Driving Database Management Systems 2024 VLDB 5.2223611e-05
9,214 BASE: Bridging the Gap between Cost and Latency for Query Optimization 2023 VLDB 5.2054849e-05
9,556 Athena: An Effective Learning-based Framework for Query Optimizer Performance Improvement 2025 SIGMOD 5.1580326e-05
9,635 Low Rank Learning for Offline Query Optimization 2025 SIGMOD 5.1453041e-05
9,663 BladeDISC: Optimizing Dynamic Shape Machine Learning Workloads via Compiler Approach 2023 SIGMOD 5.142891e-05
9,725 APQO: An Adaptive Framework for Parametric Query Optimization 2026 SIGMOD 5.1325223e-05
9,804 NeuSO: Neural Optimizer for Subgraph Queries 2026 SIGMOD 5.1233734e-05
9,900 Approximate Sketches 2024 SIGMOD 5.1110481e-05
9,962 Graph Transformers for Query Plan Representation: Potentials and Challenges 2025 VLDB 5.1014161e-05
10,152 Improving DBMS Scheduling Decisions with Accurate Performance Prediction on Concurrent Queries 2025 VLDB 5.0691578e-05
10,291 Towards Full Stack Adaptivity in Permissioned Blockchains 2024 VLDB 5.042478e-05
10,320 veDB-HTAP: a Highly Integrated, Efficient and Adaptive HTAP System 2025 VLDB 5.0362412e-05
10,343 An Elephant Under The Microscope: Analyzing The Interaction Of Optimizer Components In PostgreSQL 2025 SIGMOD 5.0176429e-05
10,424 Are Learned DBMS Components Robust to Workload Drift?: [Experiments & Analysis] 2026 SIGMOD 4.9769913e-05
10,495 NeurBench: A Benchmark Suite for Learned Database Components with Drift Modeling: [Experiments & Analysis] 2026 SIGMOD 4.9769913e-05
10,500 On Self-Designing Learned Indexes 2026 SIGMOD 4.9769913e-05
10,519 Succinct Structure Representations for Efficient Query Optimization 2026 SIGMOD 4.9769913e-05
10,543 Rainbow: Risk-aware Index Benefit Estimation Facing Out Of Distribution Workloads 2026 SIGMOD 4.9769913e-05
10,607 SEFRQO: A Self-Evolving Fine-Tuned RAG-Based Query Optimizer 2026 SIGMOD 4.9769913e-05
10,644 Divo: Learning a Stable and Effective Query Optimizer with a Diverse Workload 2026 SIGMOD 4.9769913e-05
10,703 Practical Parameterized Query Optimization via Efficient Plan Reuse and List-wise Ranking 2026 SIGMOD 4.9769913e-05
10,708 LIO: A lightweight and interpretable query optimizer based on an evolutionary forest 2026 VLDB 4.9769913e-05
10,710 Sample-based Distinct Cardinality Estimation for Multiple Attributes in Multi-Dataset Queries 2026 VLDB 4.9769913e-05
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Outgoing Citations (Sorted by Pagerank)

Showing 16 of 16 cited papers.

Citations counted here include only citations to other VLDB/SIGMOD/CIDR/PODS papers in this database.

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